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Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You
Behind every awful, dangerous decision lurks one evil the Cool.
From politics to the personal, from fashion to food, from the campus to the locker room, the desire to be cool has infected all aspects of our lives. At its most harmless, it is annoying. At its worst, it is deadly, on a massive scale. The Cool are the termites of life, infiltrating every nook and cranny and destroying it from within. The Cool report the news, write the scripts, teach our children, run our government—and each day they pass judgment on those who don’t worship at the altar of their coolness. The cool fawn over terrorists, mock the military, and denigrate employers. They are, in short, awful people.
From what we wear and what we eat, to what we smoke and who we poke, pop culture is crafted and manipulated by the cool and, to Greg Gutfeld, that's Not Cool.
How do the cool enslave you? By convincing you
- If you don't agree with them no one will like you.
- If you don't follow them you will miss out on life.
- If you don't listen to them you will die a lonely loser
How do you vanquish the cool and discover your own true self? Read this book.
In Not Cool , Greg Gutfeld, bestselling author of The Joy Of Hate , lays out the battle plan for reclaiming the real American ideal of cool--building businesses, protecting freedom at home and abroad, taking responsibility for your actions, and leaving other people alone to live as they damn well please. Not Cool fights back against the culture of phonies, elitists, and creeps who want your soul. It’s not a book, it’s a weapon—and one should be armed with it at all times.
From politics to the personal, from fashion to food, from the campus to the locker room, the desire to be cool has infected all aspects of our lives. At its most harmless, it is annoying. At its worst, it is deadly, on a massive scale. The Cool are the termites of life, infiltrating every nook and cranny and destroying it from within. The Cool report the news, write the scripts, teach our children, run our government—and each day they pass judgment on those who don’t worship at the altar of their coolness. The cool fawn over terrorists, mock the military, and denigrate employers. They are, in short, awful people.
From what we wear and what we eat, to what we smoke and who we poke, pop culture is crafted and manipulated by the cool and, to Greg Gutfeld, that's Not Cool.
How do the cool enslave you? By convincing you
- If you don't agree with them no one will like you.
- If you don't follow them you will miss out on life.
- If you don't listen to them you will die a lonely loser
How do you vanquish the cool and discover your own true self? Read this book.
In Not Cool , Greg Gutfeld, bestselling author of The Joy Of Hate , lays out the battle plan for reclaiming the real American ideal of cool--building businesses, protecting freedom at home and abroad, taking responsibility for your actions, and leaving other people alone to live as they damn well please. Not Cool fights back against the culture of phonies, elitists, and creeps who want your soul. It’s not a book, it’s a weapon—and one should be armed with it at all times.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
110 people are currently reading
948 people want to read
About the author
Greg Gutfeld
14 books318 followersGreg Gutfeld has been called "outrageous and outspoken," neither of which he denies. A libertarian political satirist, humorist, magazine editor and blogger, he is perhaps best known as the host of the Fox News Channel program "Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld." Airing at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday through Saturday, the show covers a variety of topics, including news, entertainment, sports, and gossip. Gutfeld is also a host of FNC's "The Five," a weekday program at 5 p.m. ET.
The Weekly Standard calls him "the most dangerous man on television." According to the magazine, unlike other media darlings, "Gutfeld's stuff actually is subversive, a stink bomb hurled into every faculty lounge, mainstream newsroom, movie studio, and nonprofit boardroom in America."
Prior to joining Fox, Gutfeld was a staff writer at Prevention and editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. He later became editor-in-chief of Stuff, where he increased circulation from 750,000 to 1.2 million and created controversy month after month. He helmed Maxim magazine in the U.K., and was a contributor to the Huffington Post, where he became legendary for his "inspired, lunatic ridicule of his leftwing fellow Huffers." He's been published in countless magazines, has appeared in too many profiles to mention, and was only fingerprinted once.
He currently blogs on his own site, The Daily Gut, as well as Big Hollywood.com, where he writes about the news and pop culture of the day, from a conservative libertarian humorous slant. He's appeared on dozens of TV shows, as a regular on "The O'Reilly Factor," while also stopping by on Dennis Miller's radio show and spots on "Opie and Anthony."
The Weekly Standard calls him "the most dangerous man on television." According to the magazine, unlike other media darlings, "Gutfeld's stuff actually is subversive, a stink bomb hurled into every faculty lounge, mainstream newsroom, movie studio, and nonprofit boardroom in America."
Prior to joining Fox, Gutfeld was a staff writer at Prevention and editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. He later became editor-in-chief of Stuff, where he increased circulation from 750,000 to 1.2 million and created controversy month after month. He helmed Maxim magazine in the U.K., and was a contributor to the Huffington Post, where he became legendary for his "inspired, lunatic ridicule of his leftwing fellow Huffers." He's been published in countless magazines, has appeared in too many profiles to mention, and was only fingerprinted once.
He currently blogs on his own site, The Daily Gut, as well as Big Hollywood.com, where he writes about the news and pop culture of the day, from a conservative libertarian humorous slant. He's appeared on dozens of TV shows, as a regular on "The O'Reilly Factor," while also stopping by on Dennis Miller's radio show and spots on "Opie and Anthony."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 220 reviews
January 31, 2014
The premise of this book is based on Greg Gutfeld's forever question: "Why are good things seen as bad, and why are bad things seen as good?" He takes various segments/foundations of our culture and writes about their unfortunate unraveling by elitists (media, politicians on both sides, and celebrities). What once was respected and considered cool (e.g., the military, stable two-parent homes, being proud of your accomplishments rather than your identity, not relying on government as your parent to provide you with everything, among other things) are now mocked, as well as their importance to a functional and safe society downplayed. The only true answer Gutfeld gives is a libertarian one: let people live their lives without interference from others, except if they're hurting someone with their actions. Hopefully the rising interest in libertarianism will take hold sooner rather than later.
If you enjoy watching Greg on Red Eye, these chapters are essentially extended funny monologues. I enjoy his brand of humor, which is totally needed if you're heavily immersed in politics.
If you enjoy watching Greg on Red Eye, these chapters are essentially extended funny monologues. I enjoy his brand of humor, which is totally needed if you're heavily immersed in politics.
January 25, 2014
I try to stay away from political books, not because I do not enjoy them, but because they raise my blood pressure. Having read Gutfeld before, I could not pass this one up. He has always been a fun read. I think the humor cushions the anger that it would normally provoke.
The premise of the book is intriguing. Cool vs. Uncool. He could have used a number of themes to say the same thing - Snobs vs. peons, socialist vs. free, Whole foods vs. Wal-Mart shoppers… and so on and so forth.
It reminded me of a TED video I watched once, (I know, I’m sorry). In this lecture the guy asked how many people knew someone who shopped at Wal-mart. I think I heard crickets. No one was so "low-class" as to even know anyone who shops there.
Gutfeld shows that the Cool not only believe they are cool, but they want to run the lives of the uncool. They want to make you cool also. This is something I have ranted about for years. A group of rich, spoiled liberals (and a few Republicans), who hate all normal people are the ones who run our country and our lives.
"It is for our own good" the liberal says. "We don't want you to get hurt so we need to make guns illegal". "We want to keep you healthy", so Cigarettes and Trans-fats are taxed or made illegal. But these people are hypocrites. The same people that try to outlaw cigarettes, legalize pot? Maybe second hand pot smoke is good for you. The same people who hate Christianity have found a new peaceful religion in Islam. The same idiots who raise taxes are caught not paying their own.
I agree with Gutfeld - leave me alone. Let me live my life. If I do not hurt anyone, why am I being punished? Like a parent who can not find out which child that busted the window, they just punish them all instead of the one that actually broke it.
This book was great. Being a Christian, I did not like some of the language, but I can overlook that a little. The message of the book is excellent - Just like High school, America consists of the cool, good-looking, but dumb people getting the breaks while the normal, smart, but ugly do all the hard work. That is why we elected a “community organizer” instead of a war hero or a religious business man for the highest office in the land. Old war heroes who move slow and boring business men just aren’t cool. A mysterious young guy with hardly any background except for skipping class in college to do drugs is way cooler!
My rant is now over. If you want a rant of your own, READ THIS BOOK!
I highly recommend this book. It my cause the veins in your forehead to bulge, but don't we need that every once in a while.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Crown Forum and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book is intriguing. Cool vs. Uncool. He could have used a number of themes to say the same thing - Snobs vs. peons, socialist vs. free, Whole foods vs. Wal-Mart shoppers… and so on and so forth.
It reminded me of a TED video I watched once, (I know, I’m sorry). In this lecture the guy asked how many people knew someone who shopped at Wal-mart. I think I heard crickets. No one was so "low-class" as to even know anyone who shops there.
Gutfeld shows that the Cool not only believe they are cool, but they want to run the lives of the uncool. They want to make you cool also. This is something I have ranted about for years. A group of rich, spoiled liberals (and a few Republicans), who hate all normal people are the ones who run our country and our lives.
"It is for our own good" the liberal says. "We don't want you to get hurt so we need to make guns illegal". "We want to keep you healthy", so Cigarettes and Trans-fats are taxed or made illegal. But these people are hypocrites. The same people that try to outlaw cigarettes, legalize pot? Maybe second hand pot smoke is good for you. The same people who hate Christianity have found a new peaceful religion in Islam. The same idiots who raise taxes are caught not paying their own.
I agree with Gutfeld - leave me alone. Let me live my life. If I do not hurt anyone, why am I being punished? Like a parent who can not find out which child that busted the window, they just punish them all instead of the one that actually broke it.
This book was great. Being a Christian, I did not like some of the language, but I can overlook that a little. The message of the book is excellent - Just like High school, America consists of the cool, good-looking, but dumb people getting the breaks while the normal, smart, but ugly do all the hard work. That is why we elected a “community organizer” instead of a war hero or a religious business man for the highest office in the land. Old war heroes who move slow and boring business men just aren’t cool. A mysterious young guy with hardly any background except for skipping class in college to do drugs is way cooler!
My rant is now over. If you want a rant of your own, READ THIS BOOK!
I highly recommend this book. It my cause the veins in your forehead to bulge, but don't we need that every once in a while.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Crown Forum and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 27, 2021
Opinions Galore
Not Cool is an interesting book. It is full of a myriad of opinions. I must admit that I don’t agree with them all.
However, I do agree with that the basic thesis that being cool is a false way of living at any age.
A solid book but not fantastic.
Mildly recommend
Not Cool is an interesting book. It is full of a myriad of opinions. I must admit that I don’t agree with them all.
However, I do agree with that the basic thesis that being cool is a false way of living at any age.
A solid book but not fantastic.
Mildly recommend
March 17, 2014
First off, I want to start by saying that I don’t buy into a single thing this author has to say. His viewpoint of the world and how “cool”people actively work against the “uncool” reeks of someone who still holds onto middle-school resentment. I’ll try to review this as passively as possible, but just note that this book represents strong feelings and will bring out strong feelings in the reader.
The thesis of the title is that hipsters, cool people, young liberals, etc. are what’s wrong with America. I use the term “thesis” loosely because normally when you have a thesis you then have evidence to back up your thesis. Really, this book is one long rant. Everything that the author hates about America is due to the influence of the hipster elite.
The author attempts to give evidence to his theory, but his arguments are completely full of contradictions. In the first 20 pages alone, I counted a half dozen. Some are even on the same page. For example, the author claims that hipsters often make fun of and try to put down women and minorities. On the same page, the author expresses his anger towards women who have abortions, essentially calling for an infringement on their rights.This is just one example of many eye rolling discrepancies.
Some of the author’s arguments are just plain wrong. In the first chapter, he claims that only 47% of Americans have a full-time job. His reasoning for that is, “...it’s hard to get full-time work as a maker of artisanal tricycles.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the vast majority of people who are unemployed are “job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs.” The next highest are people trying to reenter the job market. Looks to me like the low full-time employment rate is due more to an economic crisis than a lack of cool jobs. In fact, the average workweek of an American is only 34.5 hours, which means the people that are working are not getting the hours. This is just basic research that took me less than 5 minutes. Shame on Crown Forum for letting a guy pass his opinions as fact.
This title is essentially a thinly veiled attempt to complain about President Obama and nationalized health care and abortion and young people and intellectuals and everything else that the author hates about today’s society. It gets old very quickly.
Why this book isn’t receiving 1 star is very simple; I can’t stop talking about it. This guy is so ridiculous and his ideas are so warped that I have to share it with everyone I know. If you can get people talking about you, even if it’s negative, that’s an achievement. It’s worked for his television show, and it is working for his book. He creates a dialogue. It may not necessarily be the healthiest dialogue, but it’s a dialogue nonetheless.
I was given an advance copy of this title from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The thesis of the title is that hipsters, cool people, young liberals, etc. are what’s wrong with America. I use the term “thesis” loosely because normally when you have a thesis you then have evidence to back up your thesis. Really, this book is one long rant. Everything that the author hates about America is due to the influence of the hipster elite.
The author attempts to give evidence to his theory, but his arguments are completely full of contradictions. In the first 20 pages alone, I counted a half dozen. Some are even on the same page. For example, the author claims that hipsters often make fun of and try to put down women and minorities. On the same page, the author expresses his anger towards women who have abortions, essentially calling for an infringement on their rights.This is just one example of many eye rolling discrepancies.
Some of the author’s arguments are just plain wrong. In the first chapter, he claims that only 47% of Americans have a full-time job. His reasoning for that is, “...it’s hard to get full-time work as a maker of artisanal tricycles.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the vast majority of people who are unemployed are “job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs.” The next highest are people trying to reenter the job market. Looks to me like the low full-time employment rate is due more to an economic crisis than a lack of cool jobs. In fact, the average workweek of an American is only 34.5 hours, which means the people that are working are not getting the hours. This is just basic research that took me less than 5 minutes. Shame on Crown Forum for letting a guy pass his opinions as fact.
This title is essentially a thinly veiled attempt to complain about President Obama and nationalized health care and abortion and young people and intellectuals and everything else that the author hates about today’s society. It gets old very quickly.
Why this book isn’t receiving 1 star is very simple; I can’t stop talking about it. This guy is so ridiculous and his ideas are so warped that I have to share it with everyone I know. If you can get people talking about you, even if it’s negative, that’s an achievement. It’s worked for his television show, and it is working for his book. He creates a dialogue. It may not necessarily be the healthiest dialogue, but it’s a dialogue nonetheless.
I was given an advance copy of this title from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
November 24, 2013
the hipster elite is ruining my life.
March 26, 2014
Fun read
I agree with nearly everything Greg says in the book. As a cop I always wondered what was going through the heads of the knuckleheads standing across from me at protests. It is always the same crowd no matter what the issue is they are protesting. All I can think about is going home to my family while these tools are trying to gain cool points with their looser friends. It's easy to chant and beat a drum. Try raising a family and paying a mortgage while worrying about the officers next to you . This book definitely put it all into perspective.
I agree with nearly everything Greg says in the book. As a cop I always wondered what was going through the heads of the knuckleheads standing across from me at protests. It is always the same crowd no matter what the issue is they are protesting. All I can think about is going home to my family while these tools are trying to gain cool points with their looser friends. It's easy to chant and beat a drum. Try raising a family and paying a mortgage while worrying about the officers next to you . This book definitely put it all into perspective.
April 10, 2014
I read Gutfeld’s The Joy of Hate and enjoyed it, but Greg has hit it out of the park with Not Cool. He exposes the liberal/progressive agenda in America today where everything they stand for is cool and anyone who dares to disagree with them is not only uncool, but a horrible, bad person; some kind of 'ist' or 'phobe'. Never mind that today’s liberal/progressive agenda is doing irreparable damage to our culture and country. Greg’s book exposes the phony cool for what they really are... vacuous and dangerous.
April 1, 2014
Greg Gutfeld may be on to something.
His new book “Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You” doesn’t suck, and it may actually be eye-opening to those willing to read it. It’s also totally un-cool, which will probably turn off a lot of readers---mainly those readers who belong to the afore-mentioned Hipster Elite that Gutfeld writes about.
I should preface this review by saying that many people might be surprised (given my political leaning) that I 1) actually read a book by Greg Gutfeld and that I 2) actually agreed with a majority of what he said in it.
I should also preface this by saying that I have never seen either of Gutfeld’s TV shows, both of which appear on Fox News, nor have I ever read anything written by him, including his blog “The Daily Gut”. I have always kind of dismissed Gutfeld as one of those whiny conservatives, lumped in with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, or Glenn Beck. It’s not completely inaccurate. He IS a whiny conservative, but his views run more toward libertarian (as do mine, occasionally), and he comes across as somewhat less vitriolic than Limbaugh/Coulter/Beck et al.
Gutfeld pissed me off over a year ago when he published a book called “The Joy of Hate”, which I refused to read based simply on the title. I am one of those whiny liberals who thinks that there are enough haters in the world, we shouldn’t be adding to the hate-filled rhetoric, and those who take such joy and pleasure in adding to the world surplus of hatred are nothing more than bullies and assholes.
Gutfeld hasn’t changed my opinion of him, entirely, but I see him in a different light. He’s not a bully. (In fact, he writes about how he himself was bullied in school, so he kind of sympathizes with the picked-on and downtrodden). I still think he’s an asshole, but he’s an asshole primarily to those he would consider the “popular” people: those who only speak in the currency of “cool” and pick on those who aren’t cool. (Basically, he is referring to the people who bullied him in school.) It’s these “popular” people who have grown up to be the Hipster Elite and have attempted to re-shape the world in their “cool” image. Gutfeld may be an asshole (a term I’m pretty sure he would be okay with and one that he has probably called himself), but he’s an asshole who definitely makes some good points.
His main point in the book, and one which I agree with, is that there is a “culture of cool” that exists that is, at its most benign, annoying, and, at its worst, extremely harmful and even deadly.
Whether in regards to young black men emulating the looks and lifestyles of rappers because carrying guns, doing drugs, and treating women like “bitches and hos” is glorified as “cool” or idiots who are more inclined to take medical advice about vaccinations from Jenny McCarthy rather than actual medical doctors, thus threatening and, in some cases, actually causing new break-outs of diseases such as whooping cough and polio, this so-called Hipster Elite that Gutfeld refers to has convinced some people (a lot, actually) that image and popularity can adequately replace scientific evidence and actual achievement.
This is obviously extremely dangerous. And stupid. And yet many of us liberals do it. I admit that I, a liberal, have occasionally succumbed to this culture of cool.
Although, to be somewhat fair, what Gutfeld occasionally negatively calls “cool” could also be looked at as a sea-change shift in national perception. For example, just 10 years ago there may have been a legitimate “debate” regarding the dangers of global climate change. Some scientists may have rightfully questioned both the significance of and the cause of global climate change. Today, the evidence is in, and the debate is over. Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that global climate change is a very real problem and that humans are, most definitely, the cause of it. The other 3% aren't looked at so much as "uncool" as just, well, wrong.
Gutfeld’s remarks about how the “global warming” argument has been hijacked by the “cool” are probably based on 10-year-old arguments. It’s also the same old conservative bullshit about how environmentalists want to destroy the economy and take jobs away, when, in fact, implementing stronger environmental protocols and policies would actually be MORE beneficial to the economy in the long run and actually create MORE jobs.
There’s also Gutfeld’s tepid argument that it’s perceived as “cool” to be pro-gay nowadays and “uncool” to be against gay rights issues such as same-sex marriage. I agree with him, but not in the way he articulates. (To be fair, Gutfeld even admits to being pro-same sex marriage and pro-gay.) In actuality, I think the days of virulent homophobia and state laws banning same-sex marriage are on the wane due to an ever-widening open-mindedness that homosexuality just isn’t a huge deal. It’s the old idiots like Limbaugh and Coulter and Fred Phelps (the late Westboro Baptist minister) who have probably helped many people change their minds on the topic because of their vitriolic anti-gay statements. Very few people, with the exception of backwards-thinking ignorant morons, like it when minorities are being picked on. Even if they themselves don’t necessarily like the minorities in question, most people will make an attempt to defend or protect the rights of someone in a position of oppression or distress. That's not necessarily looked at as "cool", that's just, I believe, human.
Some of what Gutfeld says in the book may make you angry, especially if you are a liberal, but I think part of that is because Gutfeld may actually be hitting it too close to home. Some of it may be because he’s an asshole, too.
Regardless, “Not Cool” may not be the coolest book I’ve read this year, and it may in fact be the most un-cool book I have read, but that’s cool.
His new book “Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You” doesn’t suck, and it may actually be eye-opening to those willing to read it. It’s also totally un-cool, which will probably turn off a lot of readers---mainly those readers who belong to the afore-mentioned Hipster Elite that Gutfeld writes about.
I should preface this review by saying that many people might be surprised (given my political leaning) that I 1) actually read a book by Greg Gutfeld and that I 2) actually agreed with a majority of what he said in it.
I should also preface this by saying that I have never seen either of Gutfeld’s TV shows, both of which appear on Fox News, nor have I ever read anything written by him, including his blog “The Daily Gut”. I have always kind of dismissed Gutfeld as one of those whiny conservatives, lumped in with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, or Glenn Beck. It’s not completely inaccurate. He IS a whiny conservative, but his views run more toward libertarian (as do mine, occasionally), and he comes across as somewhat less vitriolic than Limbaugh/Coulter/Beck et al.
Gutfeld pissed me off over a year ago when he published a book called “The Joy of Hate”, which I refused to read based simply on the title. I am one of those whiny liberals who thinks that there are enough haters in the world, we shouldn’t be adding to the hate-filled rhetoric, and those who take such joy and pleasure in adding to the world surplus of hatred are nothing more than bullies and assholes.
Gutfeld hasn’t changed my opinion of him, entirely, but I see him in a different light. He’s not a bully. (In fact, he writes about how he himself was bullied in school, so he kind of sympathizes with the picked-on and downtrodden). I still think he’s an asshole, but he’s an asshole primarily to those he would consider the “popular” people: those who only speak in the currency of “cool” and pick on those who aren’t cool. (Basically, he is referring to the people who bullied him in school.) It’s these “popular” people who have grown up to be the Hipster Elite and have attempted to re-shape the world in their “cool” image. Gutfeld may be an asshole (a term I’m pretty sure he would be okay with and one that he has probably called himself), but he’s an asshole who definitely makes some good points.
His main point in the book, and one which I agree with, is that there is a “culture of cool” that exists that is, at its most benign, annoying, and, at its worst, extremely harmful and even deadly.
Whether in regards to young black men emulating the looks and lifestyles of rappers because carrying guns, doing drugs, and treating women like “bitches and hos” is glorified as “cool” or idiots who are more inclined to take medical advice about vaccinations from Jenny McCarthy rather than actual medical doctors, thus threatening and, in some cases, actually causing new break-outs of diseases such as whooping cough and polio, this so-called Hipster Elite that Gutfeld refers to has convinced some people (a lot, actually) that image and popularity can adequately replace scientific evidence and actual achievement.
This is obviously extremely dangerous. And stupid. And yet many of us liberals do it. I admit that I, a liberal, have occasionally succumbed to this culture of cool.
Although, to be somewhat fair, what Gutfeld occasionally negatively calls “cool” could also be looked at as a sea-change shift in national perception. For example, just 10 years ago there may have been a legitimate “debate” regarding the dangers of global climate change. Some scientists may have rightfully questioned both the significance of and the cause of global climate change. Today, the evidence is in, and the debate is over. Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that global climate change is a very real problem and that humans are, most definitely, the cause of it. The other 3% aren't looked at so much as "uncool" as just, well, wrong.
Gutfeld’s remarks about how the “global warming” argument has been hijacked by the “cool” are probably based on 10-year-old arguments. It’s also the same old conservative bullshit about how environmentalists want to destroy the economy and take jobs away, when, in fact, implementing stronger environmental protocols and policies would actually be MORE beneficial to the economy in the long run and actually create MORE jobs.
There’s also Gutfeld’s tepid argument that it’s perceived as “cool” to be pro-gay nowadays and “uncool” to be against gay rights issues such as same-sex marriage. I agree with him, but not in the way he articulates. (To be fair, Gutfeld even admits to being pro-same sex marriage and pro-gay.) In actuality, I think the days of virulent homophobia and state laws banning same-sex marriage are on the wane due to an ever-widening open-mindedness that homosexuality just isn’t a huge deal. It’s the old idiots like Limbaugh and Coulter and Fred Phelps (the late Westboro Baptist minister) who have probably helped many people change their minds on the topic because of their vitriolic anti-gay statements. Very few people, with the exception of backwards-thinking ignorant morons, like it when minorities are being picked on. Even if they themselves don’t necessarily like the minorities in question, most people will make an attempt to defend or protect the rights of someone in a position of oppression or distress. That's not necessarily looked at as "cool", that's just, I believe, human.
Some of what Gutfeld says in the book may make you angry, especially if you are a liberal, but I think part of that is because Gutfeld may actually be hitting it too close to home. Some of it may be because he’s an asshole, too.
Regardless, “Not Cool” may not be the coolest book I’ve read this year, and it may in fact be the most un-cool book I have read, but that’s cool.
March 25, 2014
I was so embarrassed every time I sat down to read this book. the book's title and the fact that i had no idea who or what 'gutfeld' was tricked me into thinking these pages would be filled with something that they were not.
juvenile tyrade. gutfeld snipes at celebrities, and pretends that they represent the views of the democratic electorate. everyone knows that celebrity opinions are overrated and often skewed. but this guy harps on them as if they run the country.
the only source cited in this book is twitter. he shows a celebrity tweet, calls them stupid, then wonders why everyone isn't republican. he is extremely upset that anyone posthumously questions the politics of (celebrity actor) charlton heston, then spends pages and pages of poorly worded paragraphs bemoaning the beliefs of celebrity actors (living and dead).
his chapter on race relations recounts the story of how he once had a black friend in kindergarten but then that friendship cooled as they aged.
his chapters on gun violence focus on anecdotes and use hyperbole to stir emotion. no facts, no stats. just tripe.
i can't even go on, i need to put this behind me. don't read.
juvenile tyrade. gutfeld snipes at celebrities, and pretends that they represent the views of the democratic electorate. everyone knows that celebrity opinions are overrated and often skewed. but this guy harps on them as if they run the country.
the only source cited in this book is twitter. he shows a celebrity tweet, calls them stupid, then wonders why everyone isn't republican. he is extremely upset that anyone posthumously questions the politics of (celebrity actor) charlton heston, then spends pages and pages of poorly worded paragraphs bemoaning the beliefs of celebrity actors (living and dead).
his chapter on race relations recounts the story of how he once had a black friend in kindergarten but then that friendship cooled as they aged.
his chapters on gun violence focus on anecdotes and use hyperbole to stir emotion. no facts, no stats. just tripe.
i can't even go on, i need to put this behind me. don't read.
May 1, 2014
I knew absolutely nothing about Greg Gutfeld before I read this book, but I can't wait to read more from him. The man is not a Republican, despite having a show on Fox News. He's a Libertarian, and an educated one at that.
He captures so many great rants from a guy who wants to be left alone by the government. The way he cuts through the liberal elite's agenda is somehow surgical and scattered. His thoughts are crafty and difficult to repute, served with his ire and wayward sense of humor.
Occasionally, his admittedly drunken rants deviate too often or for too little, but his core message should not be missed. He makes a strong case for how the media's new definition of cool is eroding the spiritual and financial wealth of the USA.
He captures so many great rants from a guy who wants to be left alone by the government. The way he cuts through the liberal elite's agenda is somehow surgical and scattered. His thoughts are crafty and difficult to repute, served with his ire and wayward sense of humor.
Occasionally, his admittedly drunken rants deviate too often or for too little, but his core message should not be missed. He makes a strong case for how the media's new definition of cool is eroding the spiritual and financial wealth of the USA.
April 19, 2014
Not a difficult read in any way unless you are an ideologue. I'm not in love with his snarky wit, but he does hit the nail on the head in a great number of these chapters. Not just with cultural issues, but with economic issues. Bullying techniques by politico power mongers work at this juncture. And the media and arts (various forms all) of our culture, especially, have consistently backed the criminal cool and the non-contributing far over the average Joe Schmoo who goes to work every day. The guy who keeps his head down and has always been more continually the fixer of the problems instead of the creator of worse ones. Media definition of empathy ("we" know better and feel more- hubris) and who they target for ridicule and sarcasm being clearly visible for decades now.
Listening to the news today or watching it, it is like hearing the crowd who cheered the nude Emperor saying how splendid the garments. The USA is declining in any of 10 different categories, especially average personal income being pivotal. Space study and progress- just one other area of horrid reversal. This author addresses most of those categories.
I especially liked his sections on guns and his examples of liberal logic re media characters like Michael Moore. Actuary stats tell a very different story than Michael Moore's V. Chavez tweet, for instance. His Chicago info is accurate too. Actually he was kinder than he needed to be on that one. It's even worse now.
Listening to the news today or watching it, it is like hearing the crowd who cheered the nude Emperor saying how splendid the garments. The USA is declining in any of 10 different categories, especially average personal income being pivotal. Space study and progress- just one other area of horrid reversal. This author addresses most of those categories.
I especially liked his sections on guns and his examples of liberal logic re media characters like Michael Moore. Actuary stats tell a very different story than Michael Moore's V. Chavez tweet, for instance. His Chicago info is accurate too. Actually he was kinder than he needed to be on that one. It's even worse now.
October 14, 2021
I think this is better than Gutfeld's Joy of Hate. No matter your political stripe, there's something in this book for everyone. I also don't quite feel as bad about not being "cool"! :)
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February 25, 2017
"The Fool"
by Felix Dennis
My friend would ask me, curious,
When we were lads in school,
'You know it makes 'em furious,
Why play the bloody fool?'
My mother she would scold me
Or lecture me in tears;
How many times she told me
To emulate my peers.
When I was one and twenty,
My editor would say:
'You've talent here aplenty,
Why play the fool all day?'
And even my true lover
In gentleness will ask,
'I love you like no other,
Think you I love the mask?'
Their faces set like thunder,
The men with gravitas,
The men whose gold I plunder
Each time I play the ass -
Too late they learn their danger
In breach of fortune's rule,
That Lady Luck's a stranger
To pride, but loves a fool.
by Felix Dennis
My friend would ask me, curious,
When we were lads in school,
'You know it makes 'em furious,
Why play the bloody fool?'
My mother she would scold me
Or lecture me in tears;
How many times she told me
To emulate my peers.
When I was one and twenty,
My editor would say:
'You've talent here aplenty,
Why play the fool all day?'
And even my true lover
In gentleness will ask,
'I love you like no other,
Think you I love the mask?'
Their faces set like thunder,
The men with gravitas,
The men whose gold I plunder
Each time I play the ass -
Too late they learn their danger
In breach of fortune's rule,
That Lady Luck's a stranger
To pride, but loves a fool.
March 30, 2014
Like a lot of political books, Gutfeld occasionally hits upon a small nugget of truth, only to bury that nugget within a lot of overly-emotional rhetoric that obscures that truth more than illuminates it. I can sympathize with him to a point about herd mentality, the need to fit in and so on (and his abrasive sense of humor appeals to me more than I'd like it to) but his attacks are so focused on the left that the book quickly loses credibility. Gutfeld knows damn well that EVERYBODY sucks, so why not expose that instead of another tired left vs. right debate?
Read
March 25, 2015GARBAGE
October 2, 2014
This book makes the rather circular argument that the coolest thing a person can be is uncool. Such a statement might not hold up to strict logical scrutiny, but I take the author's point.
Much of NOT COOL is like that. Gutfeld makes a lot of great insights, but in a very non-academic sort of way. In fact, a proper definition of "cool" is elusive in and of itself. Readers can either nit-pick at the weaknesses in the book's premise, or they can say, "I see what the author's getting at, even if it's not easy to pin down." I, for one, chose to go the latter route.
Maybe that's because I'm used to people reacting to my opinions like they just swallowed a bug. What's more, I've come to hate the whole concept of cool, and I see the damage it's doing to the culture as a whole.
As critics will point out, this book is filled with sweeping generalizations and lots of cheap shots at celebrities. Fair enough. I certainly wouldn't agree with Gutfeld's comments that Susan Sarandon is a poor actress, that PROMISED LAND is a terrible movie, and that Adam Levine has no talent. Heck, I don't think Greg Gutfeld really believes any of that stuff either. Like Jon Stewart, Gutfeld is first and foremost a comedian (though not officially). And, like any good comedian, he's willing to exaggerate whenever there's a good joke involved. And there are plenty of good jokes in NOT COOL. I didn't find it quite as funny as THE JOY OF HATE, but maybe that's just because, after watching a hundred or so episodes of RED EYE, I've become overly accustomed to Gutfeld's sense of humor.
Much of NOT COOL is like that. Gutfeld makes a lot of great insights, but in a very non-academic sort of way. In fact, a proper definition of "cool" is elusive in and of itself. Readers can either nit-pick at the weaknesses in the book's premise, or they can say, "I see what the author's getting at, even if it's not easy to pin down." I, for one, chose to go the latter route.
Maybe that's because I'm used to people reacting to my opinions like they just swallowed a bug. What's more, I've come to hate the whole concept of cool, and I see the damage it's doing to the culture as a whole.
As critics will point out, this book is filled with sweeping generalizations and lots of cheap shots at celebrities. Fair enough. I certainly wouldn't agree with Gutfeld's comments that Susan Sarandon is a poor actress, that PROMISED LAND is a terrible movie, and that Adam Levine has no talent. Heck, I don't think Greg Gutfeld really believes any of that stuff either. Like Jon Stewart, Gutfeld is first and foremost a comedian (though not officially). And, like any good comedian, he's willing to exaggerate whenever there's a good joke involved. And there are plenty of good jokes in NOT COOL. I didn't find it quite as funny as THE JOY OF HATE, but maybe that's just because, after watching a hundred or so episodes of RED EYE, I've become overly accustomed to Gutfeld's sense of humor.
August 2, 2014
While I can't say I agree with every opinion Mr. Gutfeld holds, and while our taste in music is probably diametrically opposed. I mean I'm not big on...Doom Metal?????
Anyway other than some of the more extreme views...and of course music I find we do have a lot in common. GG mentions something here that others have talked about and that is that mostly (at least in some ways) we never leave high school. I was (apparently like him) one of those who (for whatever reason) have never been overly concerned about whether I "fit with the cool people" or not.
And that is the gist of this book. How "Cool" and the need for acceptance by the "cool people" has effected us all.
Again as I've said before I know some will not even pick this book up convinced they know what it says before they even open it. I will as I often do urge an open mind here. Even if you're convinced that you will totally disagree you'll get some laughs.
Come on...if I can read drivel by left wing writers you can take a chance with a libertarian.
Recommended.
Anyway other than some of the more extreme views...and of course music I find we do have a lot in common. GG mentions something here that others have talked about and that is that mostly (at least in some ways) we never leave high school. I was (apparently like him) one of those who (for whatever reason) have never been overly concerned about whether I "fit with the cool people" or not.
And that is the gist of this book. How "Cool" and the need for acceptance by the "cool people" has effected us all.
Again as I've said before I know some will not even pick this book up convinced they know what it says before they even open it. I will as I often do urge an open mind here. Even if you're convinced that you will totally disagree you'll get some laughs.
Come on...if I can read drivel by left wing writers you can take a chance with a libertarian.
Recommended.
May 9, 2014
I detest hipsters, pretentious jerks, and the creeps of the world just as much as anyone else. However, I couldn't get past the rather awful writing in this book. I got to page 50, and I just had to give up. There were so many childish quips, unintelligible rants, and unnecessary parenthetical in nearly ever paragraph. I'm chalking this one up as "couldn't be arsed to finish" despite the fact that there may have been some decent thoughts within the commentary on American society.
March 22, 2024
Funny and entertaining book, but does make a serious point. The super rich far left influences the narrative for the mainstream media and the Democratic Party. Just look at the statement President Biden issued after this year’s State of the Union address for calling the man that murdered the Georgia coed an illegal alien. The next day he said he should have called him “undocumented.” In my opinion, that was to fit the narrative. The book is full of examples and his message is simple. Think for yourself. Actually, I thought the book could have been a little shorter.
September 2, 2016
I read Mr. Gutfeld’s “Joy of Hate” and really enjoyed it, so I picked up “Not Cool”. This very quick read did not disappoint me. Written from the point of Greg’s libertarian leanings he does a great job at jabbing back at the “tolerant” (massively intolerant) left and how they use coercion of personality and fitting in to suppress anything they don’t like. This happens on a daily basis to me, a social liberal and political conservative whose lifestyle does not fit easily into one camp or another. I actually had an “intellectual” tell me my life choices where “disappointing” because I do not vote the way he does. Arrogance & idiocy does not even begin to describe people like that. And therein lies the joy of “Not Cool”. Gutfeld fights back and on the same ground as those who talk that way. He calls names, he dismisses them as foolish although not inconsequential, he still recognizes their humanity, and for those of us tired of being talked down to in a condescending manner it is fun to see someone punch back.
Some highlights of the text include the chapter “Treating Crazies like Daisies” about the issues with the mentally ill. It is spot on, and good on Greg for taking on this topic that most people refuse to acknowledge as a serious issue. Especially in regards to gun violence. Other high points include “The War on Warriors” dealing with the emasculation of the military and the culture in general and the chapter “Southern Discomfort” which raises very interesting points about the stereotypes we foist on the South. I had to stop and examine some of my perceptions after reading that chapter, lest I be like the very people I can’t stand. Their hypocrisy is enough; I don’t need to join them.
In a chapter I could have done without Gutfeld talks about who he finds cool. The list is a nice collection of people who don’t let popular culture dictate their beliefs and values, but it has a large proportion of heavy metal musicians that Greg likes. Nothing wrong with that, just an odd way to lead into the text’s conclusion.
Approach “Not Cool” for what it is, and if you are one of the folks maligned by the culture because you don’t fit into their box, enjoy someone fighting right back at them. It does not even the playing field, but it will help you to realize, it’s okay to not be like them.
Some highlights of the text include the chapter “Treating Crazies like Daisies” about the issues with the mentally ill. It is spot on, and good on Greg for taking on this topic that most people refuse to acknowledge as a serious issue. Especially in regards to gun violence. Other high points include “The War on Warriors” dealing with the emasculation of the military and the culture in general and the chapter “Southern Discomfort” which raises very interesting points about the stereotypes we foist on the South. I had to stop and examine some of my perceptions after reading that chapter, lest I be like the very people I can’t stand. Their hypocrisy is enough; I don’t need to join them.
In a chapter I could have done without Gutfeld talks about who he finds cool. The list is a nice collection of people who don’t let popular culture dictate their beliefs and values, but it has a large proportion of heavy metal musicians that Greg likes. Nothing wrong with that, just an odd way to lead into the text’s conclusion.
Approach “Not Cool” for what it is, and if you are one of the folks maligned by the culture because you don’t fit into their box, enjoy someone fighting right back at them. It does not even the playing field, but it will help you to realize, it’s okay to not be like them.
November 21, 2014
Loooooved this book. Gutfeld express so well things that I have thought but have not been able to say so well. He does have a way with words. He looks hard a the weak criteria for cool and the scorn and abuse heaped on those who don't follow the crowd blindly. I have wondered for the last several years why celebrities, movie stars, etc. are supposed to have some secret knowledge about the truth of things. They have studied acting and can present things plausibly - that's part of the act - but they don't necessarily know any more about things than I do. I read a lot and try to keep informed (although I do have a weakness for quick-read mysteries and sci-fi/fantasy). These same celebrities that preach to us that we need to give up guns are the ones walking around with the expensive bodyguards who are carrying guns.....Does that make sense? They keep they're protection, but we give up ours....
There's a lot more in here that I find fascinating. The tyranny of the weak, who just try to outshout you so your voice can't be heard, reasonable or not.
There's a lot more in here that I find fascinating. The tyranny of the weak, who just try to outshout you so your voice can't be heard, reasonable or not.
April 26, 2014
Poor Greg Gutfeld. Evidently he still has a lot of leftover feelings and misgivings about his high school days. Ostensibly, this book is about how Hollywood types and hipster musicians have taken our country's cultural identity hostage and are abusing their cache as role-models and people in the public eye to mislead us down their horrible road of tolerance, environmental consciousness and multiculturalism. Gutfeld shills for fossil fuels, global warming denial and fracking like he's on somebody's payroll. He personalizes all of this by crying about how horrible his teenage years were and how 'evil' he feels that 'cool' people are. If I'd have gone to high school with him, I'da kicked his ass and robbed his lunch money daily, too. Don't waste your time reading this thinly veiled Koch Brothers recruitment handout. And if I were the guitarist of 'The Melvins', who Gutfeld repeatedly invokes as a messiah of 'cool', I'd have my lawyer send him a cease and desist letter.
April 6, 2014
It is AMAZING! Greg's writing is so enjoyable with his offhand snarky comments. Definitely not G-rated. :-) But he nails the current attitudes in society and the final (full) chapter is a list of his Free Radical heroes. I was actually deliberately slowing down my reading and putting it down, so I wouldn't finish it too quickly because I was enjoying it so much. It was the supreme "cherry on the top" to meet GG at a book signing on Mar 29 here in San Antonio. He's adorable and funny and I loved seeing his wife, too. Would have loved to just sit and listen to him all day, but he was hitting FOUR cities in Texas in one day. Whew!
March 24, 2014
The Uncool Truth
As a 23 year old conservative, I have witnessed the world that Greg explains in his funny and brutally honest book. From guns to music, Greg Gutfeld tells things the way they are. Controversial, but fair, this is a book for anyone who has witnessed the phenomena that what is good is uncool and the truly bad is what the cool want us to blindly follow. As a huge Five and Red Eye can, I have been excited for this book since I heard about its release, got it the first day and couldn't put it down. Best book I've read this year.
As a 23 year old conservative, I have witnessed the world that Greg explains in his funny and brutally honest book. From guns to music, Greg Gutfeld tells things the way they are. Controversial, but fair, this is a book for anyone who has witnessed the phenomena that what is good is uncool and the truly bad is what the cool want us to blindly follow. As a huge Five and Red Eye can, I have been excited for this book since I heard about its release, got it the first day and couldn't put it down. Best book I've read this year.
April 26, 2014
Why would the editors of Rolling Stone magazine put a picture of the surviving Boston Marathon bomber on their cover? This book delves into the question of why we perceive tyrannical leaders, terrorists, serial killers, and outlaws as matinee idols, and treat true heroes e.g., members of the armed forces past and present with disdain. After reading this book ask yourself, I want to be cool like .....?
April 14, 2014
Gutfeld is really shrewd, and this diagnosis of the cool that ails us is painfully accurate. He has no foundation for his insights, however, which is why they wobble the way they do. Will probably write more about this at Mablog.
July 17, 2018
4.5 stars, actually. You can actually hear Greg rambling along in his rapid sarcastic manner as he hammers the post modern “cool.” Some of the add-on quips are annoying, irrelevant, or unknown (like most post modern pop culture mongrels are to me). Get beyond these and you find an argument that is spot on and well developed. Those who feel insecure need the affirmation of others who they perceive are popular; unfortunately this makes one a slave to those “cool” people. Also, unfortunately, the post modern “cool” folk are leading America into decline. The remedy is to focus on what could be termed self-generated esteem fueled by our conscience and up-bringing, which in turn fosters the traditional American work ethic. That is considered not cool by “the cool” today. Greg is saying that one should concentrate on doing the best he or she can even though no one is watching and only for the sake of doing well. He is channeling the thoughts of the founding fathers, John Wooden, and Bohdi Sanders, just to name a few. He also extols the virtues of our American experiment, this republic, and warns against the dangers of socialism, dependency, and lawlessness.
January 12, 2024
I like Gutfeld. His humorous analysis of things is pretty accurate and fun to read. He comes at things from a different worldview than myself, so there are some things I disagree with. But I appreciate his books, this one included.
April 16, 2014
Greg Gutfeld eviscerates fools once again in this very funny book that works as a great follow-up to his awesome and hilarious best-seller,"The Joy of Hate". The full title of this book, "Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War On You" tells you exactly what Gutfeld is going to do do within these pages: he's going to take on wacky and brainless hipsters and expose their hypocrisy and lunacy, and champion reason, intelligence, and integrity. If you have read Gutfeld's previous book (and, presumably, the book before that, which I haven't read), or are familiar with his style, he's got the incredible gift of satirizing anything and being completely entertaining while doing so. And, so, not only is this book a great triumph against hipsters, it will make you laugh out loud as you read it.
Gutfeld's greatest strength within this book is to cite very specific examples of the things he seeks to denounce, and then kind of put a personal (and often self-deprecating) touch on it. In doing so, he illustrates his point with endless pop culture and newsworthy references. He's not just playing a role, he's speaking from the heart. Whether it's celebrities championing causes they know nothing about (but then speaking out against causes that make them look like hypocrites), or serious topics such as the progressive media lovefest for the Boston Marathon terrorists (whose disgusting and cowardly attack killed and maimed people exactly one year ago today), or any number of other topics, Gutfeld exposes the inherent flaws in logic and does so with the sharpness of a razor.
Personally, I enjoyed "The Joy of Hate" a bit more than "Not Cool", but I think it's simply because it was the first book of Greg's that I read. This book is really good and I wouldn't hesitate to read it again, to be honest, on the strength of its writing and content. Naturally, and it should go without saying, this isn't a book for secular progressives on any level, but so what? ;)
A solid read that put a smile on my face when I wasn't laughing, and I hope all who read it enjoy it as much as I did.
Gutfeld's greatest strength within this book is to cite very specific examples of the things he seeks to denounce, and then kind of put a personal (and often self-deprecating) touch on it. In doing so, he illustrates his point with endless pop culture and newsworthy references. He's not just playing a role, he's speaking from the heart. Whether it's celebrities championing causes they know nothing about (but then speaking out against causes that make them look like hypocrites), or serious topics such as the progressive media lovefest for the Boston Marathon terrorists (whose disgusting and cowardly attack killed and maimed people exactly one year ago today), or any number of other topics, Gutfeld exposes the inherent flaws in logic and does so with the sharpness of a razor.
Personally, I enjoyed "The Joy of Hate" a bit more than "Not Cool", but I think it's simply because it was the first book of Greg's that I read. This book is really good and I wouldn't hesitate to read it again, to be honest, on the strength of its writing and content. Naturally, and it should go without saying, this isn't a book for secular progressives on any level, but so what? ;)
A solid read that put a smile on my face when I wasn't laughing, and I hope all who read it enjoy it as much as I did.
December 12, 2014
This was an easy read and pretty entertaining Libertarian rant about some very recent (mostly 2013) politics and cultural events. Greg Gutfeld uses the apt metaphor of high school with its cool cliques and outcasts, bullies and hipsters, as an apt metaphor for U.S. culture. For example as an example of our culture's acceptance of evil as long it wears the appearance of coolness, one chapter is dedicated to how the media swarmed around the cute Boston Marathon bomber (who even appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone), expressing all kinds of fascinated sympathy for the poor lad while ignoring his shattered victims.
Other chapters address gun control mania despite Chicago, obsessions with sexuality while denigrating virgins and traditional values even though the results of early sex are documented to be damaging to both society and individuals, double standards in the way the media portrays Christianity and Islam, vilifying the military and masculinity in general, rejecting the industries the elite depend upon for their lifestyles – i.e., oil companies, and lots of other fun topics. The unifying thread is that most liberal causes get traction because of people's desire to be accepted at the cultural cool table. In keeping with the high school framework some of the humor is unapologetically sophomoric, but mostly bearable. I recommended it to my college-age kids because I think reading this book might be a fun and easy way for them to imbibe a little useful cultural awareness.
Other chapters address gun control mania despite Chicago, obsessions with sexuality while denigrating virgins and traditional values even though the results of early sex are documented to be damaging to both society and individuals, double standards in the way the media portrays Christianity and Islam, vilifying the military and masculinity in general, rejecting the industries the elite depend upon for their lifestyles – i.e., oil companies, and lots of other fun topics. The unifying thread is that most liberal causes get traction because of people's desire to be accepted at the cultural cool table. In keeping with the high school framework some of the humor is unapologetically sophomoric, but mostly bearable. I recommended it to my college-age kids because I think reading this book might be a fun and easy way for them to imbibe a little useful cultural awareness.
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